Cotton-picker



UNITED STATES PnrnN'r`- Garten.

HENNELL STEVENS, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSE.

COTTON-PICKER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,825, dated October 25, 1564.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENNELL STEVENS, of Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State ot Tennessee, have invented a new and Improved Cotton-Picker; and I do hereby de clare that the following is a full,l clear, and exact'description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specitical tion, in which- 4 Figure l is a side sectional view of my invention, taken in the line, .r m, Fig. 2 5 Fig. 2,

'a plan or top view of the same; Fig. 3, a detached face or top view of three ofthe fingers pertaining t'o the same. 'i Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

Cotton is sown in drills about three feet apart, and grows from three to five feet in height, with a branching stem bearing bolls, at the extremities of the stems at different heights, and ripening at dit'erent times. A cotton-field is therefore picked two, three, or more times, as tlie length of the season or the amount of help permits. Two hundred and titty pounds ot' seed'cotton or one hundred pounds of lint-cotton is considered a good days work for a first-class hand. It requires many-more hands to pick than to cultivate the cotton, and it often happens that a considerable proportion of the crop has to be plowed in, from inability to gather it before the time when it is necessary to prepare for the next year-s crop. Amachine, therefore, to pick cotton successfully must be so arranged as to select the ripe cotton-boils, leaving those not yet matured uninjured, and must pick otf the cotton without breaking the pod with it-results which, it is believed, are fully attained by my within-described invention.

My invention lconsists essentially of a set of ngers, A, to separate and hold the cottonboils, a picker, B, and receptacle C. The machine is drawn by one horse, and is mounted on two wheels, D D.

The fingers A may be constructed either of hard wood or metal. They are slightly curved longitudinally,pointed at their outer ends, and secured at their inner ends to the framing so as to have an inclined position, as shown in Fig. 1, the fingers being notched at their upper and inner parts at each side, as shown at a. (See more particularly Fig. 3.)

The picker B is placed directly over the upper and inner parts of the iingers, and is simply a cylinder provided with radial teeth b; arranged in rows circumferentially. The picker is driven by a belt, c, from a pulley attached concentrically to one of the wheels D.

E represents a shield composed of a curved plate -attached to the under side of a footplate, F, or what answers as such, and is attached tothe framing. i This shield E projects down in front of the picker B, as shown in Fig. 1.

As the machine .is drawn along the ngers A gather up the cotton-bells, which 'pass up the inciined surfaces ofthe fingers, and finally lcome beneath the picker B, those on the shortest stems arriving firstat the picker, while the taller ones are kept out of the way byrthe shield E until the machine has progressed far enough to draw them into the proper' position. The picker B is placed at such a distance from the iingers that the unripe bolls pass underneath it without touching, while those that are ripe, being swelled open, with the cotton protruding, the latter is caught by the teeth ofthe picker and torn out of the pod, to which it is very loosely attached. The empty pods and unripe bolls, after passing the picker, are drawn through the slots or notches c in the fingers, and so pass ont of the machine. The teeth of the picker pass between the teeth of a comb, G, directly over the picker. This' comb may be constructed in any proper manner, and it strips the cotton from the picker, the former, as it accumulates, beingI pressed down into the receptacle C. n

To prevent several stems being caught and jammed between two lingers by being seized below the point where the branches separate, I propose to make the tingers A in two or more lengths, supported by braces from the footboard, leaving a sufficient space betweenv the ends of the divisions to permit the stems to spring aside into lateral channels, but not large enough to allow the bolls to escape from the machine.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desireto secure by LettersPatentl. The ngcrs A, arranged, as shown, to form an inclined surface, and provided with notchesaat their upper parts, substantiall y as tangled and the cotton extracted from them. and for the purpose specified. 4. The comb G,in connection with the picker 2. rIhe shield E, in connection With the in- B, shield E, fingers A, and receptacle C, all gers A and picker B, arranged to operate subarranged to operate as set forth.

Vstelntially as and for the purpose set forth. y HENNELL STEVENS 3. The picker B, placed at such a distance from the fingers A that the unripe bolls may Witnesses: pass beneath it Without being touched, While A. BLAKE, those in which the cotton protrudes are en- JAMES S. HAMBAUGH. 

